Diamond Schmitt

PXL Gallery is a 10,000 square foot low resolution LED permanent art installation in the SmartVMC District, a 100-acre master-planned city centre in Vaughan. This modern #artinstallation features rotating exhibits of curated moving artwork created by acclaimed digital artists. Placing art and culture at the centre of this new urban precinct, PXL Gallery is the largest low-res public art installation in Canada. ‘End of the Tunnel’ by Rob King is currently on #exhibition and is a medley of mechanical and organic elements. Located at the end of the TTC Line 1, facing the open end of the horseshoe shaped SmartVMC Bus Terminal, it draws inspiration from the clockwork of transit vehicles, the flows of people through the transit system, and the momentary connections and collaborations between these people. On the one hand, ‘End of the Tunnel’ is a literal visualization of the comings and goings of trains from Vaughan Metropolitan Centre subway station and busses from the SmartVMC Bus Terminal. At the same time it recognizes that this is a place for people. It is a gateway to York Region and the SmartVMC community. PXL Gallery is a modern art installation that features rotating exhibits of curated moving artwork created by digital artists. It is a beacon for the area, overlooking the on-site SmartVMC regional bus terminal and the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre TTC subway station. Read more about PXL Gallery: /link to project page. ‘End of the Tunnel’ by Rob King: https://pxlgallery.ca Mulvey & Banani Lighting SmartCentres REIT

The newly opened Sam Centre is a year-round immersive experience that brings the ‘world of The Calgary Stampede’ – past, present and future – to life through technology, story-making and Western hospitality. 

 Drawing on historical Stampede structures and vernacular agricultural buildings and barns, the newly opened Sam Centre is a linear volume characterized by a large and expressive, horizontal pitched roof. Creating large overhanging soffits, the roof evokes the welcoming verandahs of traditional Alberta architecture. Designed by Diamond Schmitt, with Associate Architect FAAS - Formed Alliance Architecture Studio , Sam Centre expands on the Stampede’s culture of building community by bringing together diverse people from Southern Alberta, across North America, and around the world that has marked its culture from the inaugural gathering in 1912. Comprised of 30,000 sf of space on one level, Sam Centre is a flexible platform for sharing the Stampede experience through programmatic spaces presenting an immersive multimedia showcase, exhibitions and public programs supported by specialized artifact and archival collection spaces, giving visitors a visceral taste of the live Stampede experience. Learn more about Sam Centre here: https://lnkd.in/ey9uPT7W

The Waterworks Food Hall is officially open! Housing over 20 curated food vendors, the hall is a community destination located in one of Toronto’s most exciting urban neighborhoods. The Food Hall is the transformation of a 1932 City of Toronto Waterworks building into a market hall featuring some of Toronto’s best food vendors and bringing new life to an important part of Richmond Street’s heritage. The two-floor industrial structure, designed in the Art Deco style, has been preserved, retaining and restoring its entire heritage building fabric. The park facing windows sills which were previously nine feet above the interior floor have been lowered to create access and visibility to the park, to bring the outside into the food hall. The entrances at the south side of the building have been opened to create an extension to the public realm with an open-air courtyard. The revitalization includes new entrances and glazed openings, enhancing connectivity to the public realm and neighboring St. Andrew’s Playground. The introduction of east and west glazed entries creates additional pathways, enriching community interaction within the vibrant city block. Featuring heritage brick walls and 44-foot ceilings with original steel beams and columns, the 55,000 square-foot space is an integral part of the Waterworks mixed-use development, which includes 288 units of housing, and a full-service YMCA with a gym and 25 m pool designed by Diamond Schmitt and MJMA Architecture & Design which will open in the new year. Learn more about Waterworks here: https://lnkd.in/e8EkcsGV

At Diamond Schmitt we believe that inclusive design empowers people to make change for the greater good. Our firm is stronger when all team members and partners are safe, comfortable, and empowered to realize their full potential, leading to vibrant conversations and designs that benefit from varied perspectives. We are a proud Gold Level Sponsor of BEAT – a volunteer-run organization made up of architects, designers, leaders, and entrepreneurs creating opportunities for community-building, advocacy, networking, and mentorship. By empowering women in the design community, BEAT works to improve and enrich the practice of architecture, the quality of the built environment, and ultimately, the human experience. Like BEAT, Diamond Schmitt is committed to comprehensive strategies and actions that advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in our offices and our communities. Through our collaboration, we continue to support lasting systemic and transformational change with purpose-driven action, openness, compassion, and respect for diverse perspectives in the building industry. Read about Diamond Schmitt’s DEI approach: https://lnkd.in/g7B7z-Vn Learn more about BEAT: http://www.beatoronto.com

To celebrate Pride Month, and as part of the firm’s ongoing learning initiatives, Diamond Schmitt hosted its second annual Pride Talk Speaker Series led by guest EDI specialist and architectural activist, Kudzai Matsvai. As a queer, Black, working-class woman, Kudzai found her progression through the architectural profession riddled with hurdles, and this in turn drew her to want to explore and tackle issues of diversity and equity within architecture. Organized by Framework Leadership, Kudzai’s talk “Language Matters: How Architects and Designers Use of Language Impacts Inclusion” highlighted how language is one of our most powerful tools as it can often include or exclude even when we do not intend it to. As we work towards creating more inclusive environments, it is important that we constantly interrogate our own use of language in relation to the ever-changing discourse around gender, sexuality, and identity. In a profession that is so much centered around people, the way we use our words matters, and it is our individual and collective responsibility to make sure that the words we choose and use are advancing inclusive agendas. Pride Talks by Framework Leadership is an employer program that supports equity and inclusion for LGTBQ employees in the workplaces of architectural, consulting engineering, and design firms. Read more about Diamond Schmitt’s DEI approach here: https://lnkd.in/exDH2yqB

Join Principal Cecily Eckhardt and Senior Associate Dennis Giobbe at the annual International Institute for I2SL: International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories Conference, where they will be speaking about The New Vic at McGill University, a transformative multi-disciplinary research centre focused on sustainability. On October 2, 2024 at 10:30AM CST, Cecily and Dennis, alongside Patrick Séguin, Associate at Pageau Morel, will discuss the strategies for energy efficiency, #decarbonization, #sustainability and how the building will contribute to a healthier planet. The design of the New Vic combines the rejuvenation of iconic heritage buildings and landscapes with advanced research infrastructure, environmental design, and an open inclusive architecture. Design innovation ensures the New Vic spaces embody fluidity, diversity, and interconnectedness through the development of research spaces that are based on activity rather than discipline to establish a modular lab design approach. They will describe how major sustainability targets have been used to determine the best strategies for the project, including window orientation, triple glazing vs. double glazing, and heat recovery. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eKTsaYbm Conference: International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories Conference 2024 Speakers: Cecily Eckhardt, Dennis Giobbe Location: Marriott St. Louis Grand - 800 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63101 Date: October 2, 2024 Time: 10:30 am CST

Happy Solstice! As the weather begins to warm-up, we have several news items to share. TMU has selected Diamond Schmitt to lead the design of its new School of Medicine in Brampton, transforming the former Bramalea Civic Centre into a state-of-the-art medical school that will be home to aspiring medical students and a primary care clinic. The Humber Cultural Hub has been officially certified under the CAGBC’s #ZeroCarbon Building – Design Standard v1, the largest zero-carbon design certification development for a university or college institution in Ontario. David Geffen Hall continues to be recognized for how the new design rectifies the hall’s sound deficiencies and invigorates its public spaces, re-imagining the concert-going experience. Most recently, it has received an AIA Design Excellence Award in the Interior Architecture program, as well as being named a winner of an OAA Award. Here’s your quarterly update on Diamond Schmitt’s happenings! https://lnkd.in/e8Ye39Gu Subscribe to our newsletter: https://dsai.ca/contact/

Diamond Schmitt announces the appointment of two new Principals, five new Senior Associates, seven new Associates, and one new Director, along with two administrative promotions, strengthening the firm’s leadership team. Cynthia Carbonneau, OAA, LEED AP (Toronto) and Eric Lucassen, OAA, NCARB (Toronto) have been promoted to Principal. Emily Baxter (Toronto), Jeff Mitchell, OAA, CPHD (Toronto), Fernanda Rubin Joffe, OAA, CPHD, LEED AP (Toronto), Arne Suraga, OAA, CPHD (Toronto) and Haley Zhou, CPHD (Toronto) have been promoted to Senior Associate. Anne H. Cheung, OAA Intern, EDAC (Toronto), Sarah Elliott, CPHD (Toronto), Zhivka Hristova, OAA (Toronto), Kyle Marren, OAA Intern (Toronto), Alison Modl, OAA Intern, LEED AP, WELL AP (Toronto), Sarah Prows, NCIDQ (Vancouver), and Coco Xiong, OAA, AIA, LEED AP (Toronto) have been appointed to Associate. Victor M Lima has been named Director of Digital Practice. Laura Hutchinson has been promoted to Senior Administrative Project Coordinator; and Sam Horton has been named Learning and Development Manager. “We are excited to recognize the achievements of these colleagues who have been promoted by the Principals to the roles of Senior Administrative Project Coordinator, Learning and Development Manager, Associate, and Senior Associate,” says Principal Donald Schmitt. “We are also very excited with the promotion of two Senior Associates to Principals. Each of these appointments and promotions is a consequence of commitment to excellence, a commitment to fellow team members and commitment to the values of the office. These appointments and promotions also advance our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. We are very fortunate to have each and every one of these individuals as part of the firm.” https://lnkd.in/eHhDFKSY

Join Senior Associate Arne Suraga at the 2024 Passive House Canada Conference, where he will explore key challenges and lessons learned from designing multiple projects for Ottawa Community Housing (OCH). On June 19 at 3:00PM PST, Arne will speak alongside Rehanna Devraj-Kizuk, building science engineer at RDH Building Science, about how they set the ideal standards and targets to optimize high energy performance and affordability for multiple OCH projects. Using three case studies, they will discuss how the results of their work make the case for pursuing Passive House in the social housing context, providing guidance on key energy performance levers and building design specificity. The key takeaway for the wider industry is that the consultant team can be a key ally in building an understanding of design requirements to align with specific funding metrics, and allows non-profit affordable housing providers to understand the deliverables required while building a funding and scoping roadmap at the pro forma phase. More info and how to register: https://lnkd.in/e5pNqsmJ Event Details: Conference: Pursuing Passive House - A Portfolio Wide Strategy Speaker: Arne Suraga Location: Virtual Date: June 19, 2024 Time: 3:00PM EST

Join Principal Sydney Browne at the Ontario Library Association’s Annual Institute on the Library as Place conference 2024, where she will be speaking about Building for Two Worlds: How Space and Meaning Converge to Build Community. In this talk, Sydney will discuss how libraries and Indigenous communities can work together to build relationships that result in meaningful actions, and meaningful places, using the Library Learning Commons at Fanshawe College as case study. On June 17, 2024 at 11:50AM EST, Sydney alongside Guy Williams, Special Advisor of Indigenous Education and Development at Fanshawe College, and Jess Bugorski, Director of Library Learning Commons at Fanshawe College will share how the College helped shape a place of belonging for Indigenous students, faculty, community partners, and knowledge keepers with the Kalihwíy̲o̲ Circle. Situated at the heart of the Library Learning Commons at Fanshawe College lives the Kalihwíy̲o̲ Circle is an Indigenous and community-centred space designed to recognize Indigenous stories, ways of being and beliefs. Kalihwíy̲o̲ is an Oneida word meaning ‘good message’.  The concept for the new Indigenous space moves beyond a functional space program to become a thoughtful space for learning, where every element and artifact was intentionally selected and articulates meaning. By building for two worlds, the College helped shape a place of belonging for Indigenous students, faculty, community partners, and knowledge keepers. Registration closes June 13: https://lnkd.in/e_eu6JkK Event Details: Conference: Building for Two Worlds: How Space and Meaning Converge to Build Community Speaker: Sydney Browne Location: Noel Ryan Auditorium, Hazel McCallion Central Library - 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd. West, Mississauga, ON L5B 3Y3 Date: June 17, 2024 Time: 11:50 AM EST